mladen
01-28-2023, 02:36 PM
Big day today. The engine is finally in the chassis!
Overall, the process went fairly smoothly. We used a 2-ton engine crane, extended all the way, with a leveler, and lifted it out of the crate it came in.
178724
The first step was to install the engine mounts, and that's where the first problem started. The mounts would not sit flush with the block due to, apparently, the support ridges that the Dart block has. A few quick searches suggested making notches in the mounts (NOT on the block), which is what we did. The following shows just how much misalignment there was on the holes, and how big of a notch we had to make to have it sit flush. I have to say, cutting into the mount does not feel super comfortable, hopefully, it's not compromised in any way. :(
178727178728178729178730178731
Once the notches were sufficient, proceeded with mounting the mounts (no pun intended). Second problem. The blots provided by FFR are too long and bottom out before the mounts are fully seated. Luckily, the blots that came from Blueprint and held the engine in the crate were of the right length and were a grade stronger to boot, so used those. As suggested in many places, we had the rear of the car on jack stands to make it easier for the transmission to go in, which did help, but created a new problem. Now the front 4" tubes were too low and the legs of the engine crane couldn't go under, so we used the jack to just barely lift the front too which worked. One thing that almost got us, and it would have been hard to correct at that point, was that we almost weren't able to clear the engine over the frame, because the chains were too long. I'd strongly suggest using as little chain as possible when picking up the engine.
178732178733178734
Getting the engine into place was fairly easy for the two of us, slowly moving forward, and downward and reducing the angle little by little. The leveler was a bit hard to work with once we got it to that extreme angle, and in fact, we couldn't get it to move the other way, it would just spin and skip, so my neighbor lifted the transmission end to alleviate some of the pressure from its weight, which made it possible to crank the leveler the other way again. Also as suggested elsewhere, I did not torque the bolts on the mounts to the engine fully to allow wiggle room. I want to make sure that everything is aligned well before doing that. Which moves me to the questions...
Overall, the process went fairly smoothly. We used a 2-ton engine crane, extended all the way, with a leveler, and lifted it out of the crate it came in.
178724
The first step was to install the engine mounts, and that's where the first problem started. The mounts would not sit flush with the block due to, apparently, the support ridges that the Dart block has. A few quick searches suggested making notches in the mounts (NOT on the block), which is what we did. The following shows just how much misalignment there was on the holes, and how big of a notch we had to make to have it sit flush. I have to say, cutting into the mount does not feel super comfortable, hopefully, it's not compromised in any way. :(
178727178728178729178730178731
Once the notches were sufficient, proceeded with mounting the mounts (no pun intended). Second problem. The blots provided by FFR are too long and bottom out before the mounts are fully seated. Luckily, the blots that came from Blueprint and held the engine in the crate were of the right length and were a grade stronger to boot, so used those. As suggested in many places, we had the rear of the car on jack stands to make it easier for the transmission to go in, which did help, but created a new problem. Now the front 4" tubes were too low and the legs of the engine crane couldn't go under, so we used the jack to just barely lift the front too which worked. One thing that almost got us, and it would have been hard to correct at that point, was that we almost weren't able to clear the engine over the frame, because the chains were too long. I'd strongly suggest using as little chain as possible when picking up the engine.
178732178733178734
Getting the engine into place was fairly easy for the two of us, slowly moving forward, and downward and reducing the angle little by little. The leveler was a bit hard to work with once we got it to that extreme angle, and in fact, we couldn't get it to move the other way, it would just spin and skip, so my neighbor lifted the transmission end to alleviate some of the pressure from its weight, which made it possible to crank the leveler the other way again. Also as suggested elsewhere, I did not torque the bolts on the mounts to the engine fully to allow wiggle room. I want to make sure that everything is aligned well before doing that. Which moves me to the questions...